New Report Finds Adult Obesity Rates Could Exceed 60 Percent in 13 States by 2030

Related health care costs could climb by more than 20 percent in nine states.

The number of obese adults, along with related disease rates and health care costs, are on course to increase dramatically in every state in the country over the next 20 years, according to F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America's Future 2012, a new report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Trust for America's Health.

The report forecasts adult obesity rates in each state by 2030 and the likely resulting rise in obesity-related disease rates and health care costs.

If states’ obesity rates continue on their current trajectories, the number of new cases of type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease and stroke, hypertension, and arthritis could increase 10 times between 2010 and 2020—and double again by 2030.

Medical costs associated with treating preventable obesity-related diseases could increase by up to $66 billion per year by 2030, and the loss in economic productivity could be as high as $580 billion annually.

The report also shows that states could prevent obesity-related diseases and dramatically reduce health care costs if they reduced the average body mass index (BMI) of their residents by just 5 percent by 2030. In that scenario, millions of Americans would be spared serious health problems, and the country could save billions of dollars in health spending.

The interactive map below illustrates the two possible futures for America’s health: one based on obesity rates increasing at their current pace and the other based on the 5 percent reduction in BMI.